How was teflon discoverd?

Answer 1

On April 6, 1938, Roy Plunkett and his technician assistant, Jack Rebok, were setting up for an experiment with the refrigerant gas TFE. Plunkett hoped to make a refrigerant by reacting hydrochloric acid with TFE. Plunkett had made a hundred pounds of the gas, to be sure to have enough for all his chemical tests, and for toxicological tests as well. He stored the gas in metal cans with a valve release. Plunkett kept the cans on dry ice, to cool and liquefy the TFE gas. One of the pressurized cylinders of TFE that they had filled failed to discharge when its valve was opened. They weighed the tank to see if the gas had leaked out but it was still full. They tried to unclog the valve but nothing came out. Rebok suggested sawing the tank in half to see what had gone wrong. Despite the danger of explosion, Plunkett agreed. Inside the cylinder they found a white power. The gas had solidified through polymerization.

Plunkett immediately began running tests on this new substance. He had to be sure it was viable so he conducted an experiment to reproduce the substance. The experiment was a success and Teflon was created.

Answer 2

Teflon was discovered accidentally by Chemist Dr. Roy Plunkett in 1938 while working on refrigerants at DuPont. He found a white waxy residue in a pressurized gas cylinder that was later identified as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), the main component of Teflon.